1907.] MY FRIEND THE HEN. 97 



and he says, " Tige, sic em." The little dog smelled over the 

 baggage, and then he put his nose up and smelled of the trunk 

 and then moved back and sat up like that. They opened the 

 case and there were thirteen quail that the woman was trying 

 to take out of the state. " Now," says the farmer, " Professor, 

 you may have science but 3^ou ain't got the smell." ,So it is, 

 a man to take care of the hen business and make it pay must 

 not only have the science but he must have the smell. He must 

 understand the instinct and desires of the hen. I thought I 

 had a smattering of science and could make hens lay, but that 

 old Swedish woman who did not know anything about science 

 did have the smell, and she did have the instinct to make those 

 hens lay, and she did make them lay. I do not know what our 

 professor friends will say to me for saying that those hens made 

 a good record on a ration of corn, water and cabbage, but, my 

 friends, I know that they had the woman in addition to help 

 them out. 



Now you may ask, what has the hen done that I should 

 call her my friend. She has done a good deal for me, but 

 the hen has done far more than that. She has done a good 

 deal for our country, and for New England in particular. If 

 you will read the books of that period, you will find it set down 

 in print that away back two hundred and fifty years ago the 

 hen saved New England. How do I prove that? Massasoit, 

 an old Indian chief, was sick unto death. His medicine men 

 were gathered about him. They were pounding their breasts 

 and making a hideous noise, and were saying that the old 

 fellow was dying. He was dying for lack of nourishment. 

 Two men from Plymouth had been walking through the woods 

 to see the old man. He was a friend of the whites. Those 

 two men went over and they found the old chief in this condi- 

 tion, so they turned out the medicine men. they stopped the 

 noise, and they saw what he wanted. They sent an Indian 

 runner to Plymouth, and out of their scanty store secured and 

 had brought back a pullet, which was killed and dressed, and 

 from it thev made some chicken broth, which thev fed to the 

 old chief, and thus saved the man's life. And it is set down 

 in history that for the saving of Massasoit's life they secured 

 peace and safety for the English colony until the time of King 

 Philip's war. This hen saved New England in her early days. 

 In our day the hen has lived to save New England again, for 

 Agr. — 7 



